Making Grammar Fun using Scissors

Today I wanted to show what I've made for my new batch of kids!  Last year I realized how much my big kids (fourth graders) still loved cutting out shape books.  Paper would turn into snowmen, apples, pumpkins, etc. throughout the year.  It motivated them to complete a brainstorm when it was deemed "fun" and by fun it meant a shape.  So, this summer when I actually had time, I created these 9 shape books for my kiddos.  Each batch of books has 10 pages that can be stapled together.

Why grammar?  Well every week my class works on Mentor Sentences.  Every week we are labeling the words in our interactive notebook, and every week we are discussing the parts of speech.  So I wanted to let them create brainstorm booklets that can let them show what they know.

   

My plan is to have the kids use one shape per month August to April:

September - Apples

October - Pumpkins

November - Acorns

December - Winter Hats

January - Snowmen

February - Mittens

March -  Butterflies

April - Clouds

May - Flowers

Each booklet has a shape/page dedicated to nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections, a cover page, and a blank one that could be used for anything I can dream up.  Just wanted to share what I've been getting ready, here's the link if you think they might work in your classroom too.  

How have you been prepping for school?    

Thank You (Parts of Speech Freebie)

Thank you so much for following me, here are these Parts of Speech Posters.  It's over on Google Docs.  Hope it helps someone.  :)  

Apostrophes - Macaroni Style!

Don't you love pasta projects?  Last year I combined apostrophes and quotation marks when I did this  lesson, this year I decided to separate it out.  I used the foldable from Jivey's Stellaluna's Mentor Sentence lesson, and instead of gluing it into their notebooks they glued it on the middle of their construction paper.  We had brainstormed full class of both types, they wrote examples of sentences using both type of apostrophes in their notebooks, and then they got to move onto the art project.  What motivation a little bit of pasta was to have them come up with their own examples.  Adding this to Joanne's Motivation Linky.

These are just the small elbow macaroni with a dot of glue.  I had to remind them to write big enough to fit the pasta in its place.  Under the pasta and glue they did have to write it with a pencil.  

What pasta projects do you complete with your class?  I'm always looking for ideas!

I Like Grammar!

This year I am having so much fun teaching grammar.  Say what?!  Yes, I am having fun!  During the first trimester I have been spotlighting one part of speech per week.  I usually choose something that ties into our mentor sentences.  You might already do this, but I pull up Grammar Rock on the big screen for my students to watch.  I also own the VHS videos (that I stick in on rainy days), but when it's just one video I pull up the link.  

After we watch it I give them a couple of pages from this pack.  Stephanie has the lyrics and then activities for each part of speech. 

I shrunk them down 2 per page for the students to glue into their ELA Composition book.  We talk through the song using our highlighters to spotlight the certain part of speech.

Then the kids get a chance to practice themselves using the activity sheets.

I also have the songs on our class iPad, so after we learn it, it will go into the song rotation when I'm playing DJ.  It's wonderful review. 

Speaking of review, have you picked up my Monthly Grammar Coloring Sheets?  My kiddos love to color, and this gives them some extra practice.

Do you do something fun for Grammar?  Please share!  

Popping In - Giveaway Over on FB

I really love summer!  My house is already cleaner than it usually is during the school year, my laundry is getting done when it should, and I've had adult conversation time with mom friends when my boys played at the park. 

I have so many "educationally fun" things I want to create this summer, that my goal is to get going on them too.  Today I uploaded 2 items over on TPT.  This first one is something I have wanted to do for a while.  I know as a buyer I love looking for bundles, and definitely something that I can use all year long.  I figure there are others out there just like me, so I bundled up 22 of the math task cards and activities that I use throughout the year... all the way from Place Value in August to Area & Perimeter in May.  It's the biggest bundle I've ever gathered up, and I'm so excited to offer it at 20% off the retail price.  Over on FB I posted the link earlier on today, and will be giving away one copy to a winner tomorrow (Thursday) night.   

In case you are interested, here's what's included:

Since I have math pretty much covered for my own school year, I wanted to start making up more ELA ones for my future students.  I made up these Parts of Speech Task Cards this morning.  Students have to identify nouns, verbs, adjectives, and prepositions while looking at a sentence.  I have really started LOVING the colored digital papers from I'm Lovin Lit, but I understand that sometimes it's too much color to print - so this pack has 2 options... each page with a background of color, and another one that is more ink friendly.

That's it for today!  Hope you are having a magnificent afternoon.  :)